Beads Workflow Guide

Display the beads workflow for AI agents and developers.

Beads is an issue tracker designed for AI-supervised coding workflows. Here's how to use it effectively:

1. Find Ready Work

Use /beads-ready or the ready MCP tool to see tasks with no blockers.

2. Claim Your Task

Update the issue status to in_progress:

• Via command: /beads-update <id> in_progress
• Via MCP tool: update with status: "in_progress"

3. Work on It

Implement, test, and document the feature or fix.

4. Discover New Work

As you work, you'll often find bugs, TODOs, or related work:

• Create issues: /beads-create or create MCP tool
• Link them: Use dep MCP tool with type: "discovered-from"
• This maintains context and work history

5. Complete the Task

Close the issue when done:

• Via command: /beads-close <id> "Completed: <summary>"
• Via MCP tool: close with reason

6. Check What's Unblocked

After closing, check if other work became ready:

• Use /beads-ready to see newly unblocked tasks
• Start the cycle again

Tips

• Priority levels: 0=critical, 1=high, 2=medium, 3=low, 4=backlog
• Issue types: bug, feature, task, epic, chore
• Dependencies: Use blocks for hard dependencies, related for soft links
• Auto-sync: Changes automatically export to .beads/issues.jsonl (5-second debounce)
• Git workflow: After git pull, JSONL auto-imports if newer than DB

Available Commands

• /beads-ready - Find unblocked work
• /beads-create - Create new issue
• /beads-show - Show issue details
• /beads-update - Update issue
• /beads-close - Close issue
• /beads-workflow - Show this guide (you are here!)

MCP Tools Available

Use these via the beads MCP server:

• ready, list, show, create, update, close
• dep (manage dependencies), blocked, stats
• init (initialize beads in a project)

For more details, see the beads README at: https://github.com/shaneholloman/beads